Here’s the latest from around the AL East…
- Monday is Michael Bourn’s opt-out date in his minor league contract with the Orioles, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun reports. Bourn suffered a broken finger that sidelined him through most of Spring Training, which led the outfielder and the Orioles to agree to a new minors deal after Bourn opted out of his original pact. There isn’t an obvious spot for Bourn on the big league roster, with Trey Mancini, Seth Smith, Joey Rickard and Hyun Soo Kim providing the O’s with solid corner outfield depth. Kim, however, hasn’t hit much or seen a lot of action this season; Bourn could replace Kim as a left-handed hitting option while adding much more speed and defensive ability.
- Aaron Hicks has been taking grounders at first base, though it may take an “emergency” scenario to see Hicks starting at the position, Yankees infield instructor Joe Espada tells NJ.com’s Brendan Kuty. Joe Girardi asked for Hicks to get some work at first for depth purposes, though work will be required since Hicks has never played any position besides outfield during his 10 pro seasons. Deploying an athletic and above-average outfielder at first could be seen as something of a waste defensively, though the Yankees clearly are exploring all possible ways to get Hicks’ bat into the lineup, with Aaron Judge, Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury also all hitting well in the regular outfield spots. Greg Bird and Chris Carter, by contrast, have provided the Yankees with little production at first base.
- A week after examining why the Blue Jays should keep Josh Donaldson at least through the season, Sportsnet’s Jonah Keri presents the counter-argument, opining that the Jays should look to move Donaldson now while his value is still very high. Donaldson will hit the open market after the 2018 season (his age-32 season), and committing major dollars to any free agent in his mid-30’s could be a questionable move for Toronto, even for a player with Donaldson’s elite bat. In trading their pending free agents and then Donaldson for a major package of talent, the Jays could reload for a quick return to contention next season.
On any other team, Hicks is the star outfielder. On NY, he is a number 4.
Oh really? He is a career .229 hitter. He is playing great this year, but you have to go off prior production. In no shape or form is Hicks a “star” on any other team. I can name plenty of teams in which he’d have problems getting into the lineup
LOL
Yikes. This is silly
This isn’t even good trolling considering he has better stats than Gardner and ellsbury
Maybe starting
I’m assuming this isn’t serious.
If you’re going by his stats this year, he’s the Yankees #2 outfielder. If you’re going by his career line and what he’ll likely be going forward, he’s a fourth outfielder, just like he is on most other teams.
Andrew Benintendi/JBJ/Betts?
Heyward/Schwarber/Jay/Almora?
Dahl/Blackmon/CarGo?
Yelich/Stanton/Ozuna?
Cespedes/Granderson/Bruce/Conforto?
Polanco/Marte/Cutch?
Eaton/Werth/Harper?
That is so tired! What he’ll likely be going forward. Tell me what the hell makes you a fortune teller. Your outfield scenarios are weak..he’d most certainly and should start on Cubs,Pirates,and most definitely the Mets!
your dumb.
You are dumb or you’re dumb. You shouldn’t be calling someone dumb while making grammatical errors.
Newsflash: Hicks is better at playing the OF than Ellsbury, Gardner and Judge. Yankees being real dumb with that move.
Better than Judge? I doubt that. So far Judge has shown he can hit run and field. Leave him right where he is.
He has by far the best arm out of all of them but he’s certainly not the best defender.
Not better than Gardner or Ellsbury. Better arm, yes by far.
If you go by defensive runs saved judge is the 2nd best outfielder after kiermaier defensively. Extremely under rated defensively
Where’s that Mets fan who said Hicks would be a bust and Judge doesn’t even have 20HR power?
Wait so you think this is the real Aaron hicks?
This is the real Aaron hicks potential, some players take longer to find “it”. Maybe this is the beginning of what 30 teams knew he could do or maybe it’s a tease of what he could be but can’t figure out for 162
What makes you think it’s not? Please don’t bring up the past,just explain with his tools why not!
So this past month is more indicative than his long track record? And he’s obviously not a guy who’s going to ops over 1.000
Minnesota expected him to be a stud and the talent evaluators agreed. he has all the tools but never put it together leading to his trade to NYY. There is no talent related reason why he can’t keep this up.
Big W JP8!!
Jason Vargas is Yu Darvish. I mean the numbers before this year don’t say so but through a month and a half his numbers are on par so it must be him breaking out and going forwaed
There’s a reason why he was a #1 pick.
The Mets fan was committed to a facility in Flushing. Like his favorite team he was diagnosed too late and there is little hope for a full recovery. However his employer is saving money keeping him at minimum wage. This far he has refused any brain imaging as he keeps repeating, “TC wouldn’t make me do this”.
Osuno is my favorite name on the board. If I am DD I look hard at moving Betts to 3B. The former 2nd baseman prospect is an elite OF glove but played 2nd for all of his minor league career except for a fee months prior to call up to Boston. Osuna is awesome and adds an elite bat to the line up while moving an elite bat to the biggest issue….3B. I see Osuna as the biggest value on the trade board. Boston will also get Carson Smith and hopefully Thornburg back. Two power arms. A BP of Ross, Ramirez, Roenis Hembree, Abad Scott Smith Barnes Kelly Thornburg and Kimbrel would allow Sox to move Thornburg, Kelly or Barnes to aquire a few prospects to help Sox get the bat they need. Sure Devers to 3B Hanley to first with a thumper like Donaldson or JD Martinez could make Sox lethal. If a Betts to 3B move to acquire Osuna would make Devers or JBJ available to go along with Swihart, Delbec Chatham, Chavis Raudes Travis …the only untouchable is Groome should Betts move to 3B. If Donaldson is acquired then Devers is still needed making him untouchable as well…wheather Devers stays at 3B or moves to 1B to allow Donalson to stay at third. If DD is truly going for it. Who h I say he better be after depleting the entire farm system to get 3 years of Sale and Kimbrel. Adding a bat now would help Boston’s line up become lethal. Imagine another 10 to 20 HR 20 2B added to the line up from 3B and 1B/DH. However it is done DD will need to be creative which will include moving a BP arm, maybe Mitch Mooreland and possibly JBJ to get what this team needs. Sure Bradley makes amazing catches, last night he robbed Oakland of a month inning walk off only to postpone it an inning after Boston failed to score while threatening again in the 10th
Oh Mother Hubbard your cubbard is bare. DD emptied it out.
Nice dream scenario but never going to happen.
Not enough prospects and never going to trade one of your outfielders for a 3rd baseman.
And, you have holes in your pitching staff that need much more immediate attention to stay in contention.
Hitting might get the Sox into the playoffs but guarantee a quick exit of pitching issues aren’t solved.
Why play Hicks at first when Judge would benefit from it more. Later in his career, the big man might find it harder to stick in the outfield, so prior experience at first would probably be a plus at that point. Not saying Judge isn’t good in the outfield (he is), but Hicks has the better glove and arm between the two.
I don’t know – that’s a huge guy for infield work. I believe Judge is the 3rd- or fourth-tallest position player in baseball history.. While it’s true that most of those guys were bad-fielding first basemen, the Yankees play in the DH league and it seems like that’s the more obvious landing spot for Judge.
Frank Howard is really the only position player as tall as Judge in history to have a consistently successful career (and even then, he only spent 10 or so years as a regular). Tony Clark almost did, but was plagued by injuries,and Richie Sexson had a relatively short career before his body broke down.
But there’s also Sandy Alomar, Mark McGwire, Dave Parker, Dave Winfield, John Olerud, Joe Mauer, Derrek Lee, Troy Glaus, etc. that were only an inch or two shorter.
It’ll be interesting to see how his career pans out.
Well, alomar was bad, Mauer is now bad, olerud hit singles, Winfield was one of the best players in baseball history, lee had a short career, glaus ditto, McGwire was a tremendous hitter but at the end couldn’t field at all. Parker is an outlier in everything because he was so freaking athletic.
But I do agree; it’s such an unusual body type that we’re in uncharted territory. I think Kyle Blanks fits into this discussion too.
Judge is the future, Hicks is trade bait.
Na Gardner is.
Again, who is going to give the Blue Jays a major package for Donaldson? The Red Sox have a need at third, but I think the Jays would rather not trade Donaldson within the division. I’m also not sure the Red Sox would part with a package that the Blue Jays would like. The Phillies could easily come up with a package that would be enticing the Jays, but they may elect to wait to Machado becomes a free agent.
Yeah, not a whole lot of obvious demand.
But Jedd Gyorko won’t keep up his current production for St. Louis, and when he does regress, they could be looking.
Putting Ramirez back in the outfield would be a big improvement for Cleveland, which would leave third open.
If the Mets come back into contention, they’ll be looking for help.
And I’m not sure that being in the same division would disqualify Boston or New York from being considered since he only has one year of control after this, and trading him would more or less but Toronto out of realistic contention for the immediate future.
And all five have the talent needed to acquire Donaldson if they wanted to.
Plus, season is still young – all it takes is one major injury for a team to desperately need a third baseman.
True, but I think the Jays would have to be blown away to trade Donaldson to trade him to the Yankees or the Red Sox. The Yankees have been unwilling to trade away their top prospects & I don’t see them trading for Donaldson with the belief that they are waiting for the 2018 free agent class to go after Harper or Machado. The Jays would need Major League ready talent in return because of their farm system is lacking major league ready prospects, especially in the pitching category. I doubt the Red Sox will give up that kind of a package. The Cardinals could be an interesting potential trade partner at some point if they decide they want to make a major move. I’m not sure Cleveland will be able to provide a package that is talented enough. I just don’t see the Mets giving up top prospects to get a third baseman. As a Jays fan, if the Jays are going to trade Donaldson, I would want the Phillies to be interested. I’m quite familiar with their farm system as I live near both their AA & AAA farm teams. They have a ton of talent and they could put together a really enticing package. Franco could be part of the deal & then they have pitchers such as Ben Lively, Nick Pivetta & Jake Thompson. They have oufielders in Nick Williams, Roman Quinn, Dylan Cozens & Cam Perkins. They also have 2nd basemen Jesmul Valentin & Scott Kingery. With those players, the Jays would get a nice return for Donaldson if the Phils would get involved
My lord. The return button occasionally. Please?
why doesn’t nyy play holiday at first and rotate others through the DH
Because they don’t want him playing the field. They don’t want him wearing down early in the season.
That’s a good point
Hicks is a great sell high candidate. They have Fowler and Frazier coming